ECPs and Optical Suppliers Continue Providing Relief for Oklahoma Tornado Victims

MOORE, Okla.—One week after a tornado destroyed many of the homes and businesses in this suburb of Oklahoma City, neighbors continue helping neighbors dig out and rebuild while the optical community has stepped up to provide eyecare and eyewear to those in need.

Relief efforts spearheaded by Advanced Family Eyecare, a Vision Source practice in Oklahoma City, got underway yesterday at the Graceway Baptist Church, while a number of other area eyecare professionals continued providing free eyecare as well as eyewear donated by a long list of optical suppliers, as previously reported by VMail last Wednesday and Friday.

Leta Forrester, office manager with Advanced Family Eyecare, described the scene at yesterday’s clinic: “It’s crazy, but it’s great. It’s going really well. We have 16 volunteers right now and more coming in, lots of doctors, 2,500 to 3,000 brand new frames, lenses. We have an edger. We’re cutting lenses here, and labs around the city are cutting lenses also. We’ve had around 40 people here already, and now we’re waiting for more to come in. We’re out on the street letting people know we’re available. Everybody’s so glad we’re here. They say it’s the last thing we’ve thought of, needing glasses.”

Companies have donated thousands of frames, lenses, contacts and other equipment, and local ECPs have already attended to many patients in need. Among them, Curt Massengale, OD, of Massengale Eye Care, located here; Fulton EyeCare Center, of Chickasha, Okla.; and, in Oklahoma City, Vision Source OKC South, Dana Garber, OD, and Kenneth Guthrie, OD.

In addition to those already mentioned in previous VMails, Coastal of Vancouver and Match Eyewear of Westbury, N.Y., are contributing eyeglasses frames to the optical clinic being run by Advanced Family Eyecare this week. “We will continue to donate as many frames as necessary to replace what has been lost or destroyed,” said Jonathan Pratt, CEO of Match. In addition, Match’s Oklahoma sales consultant, Gregory Crews, is among the many ECPs lending a hand.

To provide continuing eyecare relief for tornado areas, the Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians (OAOP), Optometry Cares – The AOA Foundation and The Vision Council have partnered to form “Optometry Strong Tornado Relief Project.”

The Vision Council will reimburse participating optometrists in the impacted areas, up to $300 for frames, lenses and optical laboratory work for any products offered to tornado victims through Aug. 30, 2013. For more information about the reimbursement program, please contact Maureen Beddis, The Vision Council’s vice president of marketing and communications, at mbeddis@thevisioncouncil.org.

The Vision Council’s CEO, Ed Greene, told VMail, “Our hearts go out to those affected by the recent storms in Oklahoma. The Vision Council is proud to work alongside the AOA and the Oklahoma Association of Optometric Physicians to provide some relief to the affected communities as they begin to recover and rebuild.”